NIKKE, When the Milky Way Blossoms

The incident of fans scaling the security wall was just a minor episode, nothing out of the ordinary for anyone except the manager.

Phoenix and Warren then walked side by side to the main stage area. After the host finished reading the opening remarks, the autograph session officially began amidst cheers from the fans.

A two-hour autograph session may seem long, but at Warren's rate of sending off one fan every five seconds, theoretically he could only sign 1,440 people.

Unfortunately, some fans deliberately dragged out the time, so the fact that a thousand albums were actually signed in 120 minutes is considered a sign of high quality among this year's fans.

[There's bad news. The Ark Daily reported a story titled "Massacre at an Abandoned Factory in the Western Suburbs."]

Just as Phoenix was idly standing behind Warren as a goalkeeper, Anik's voice rang in his mind like heavenly music.

Watson is dead. His body was not found in the abandoned factory; it was reportedly found by scavengers in a street-side trash can.

Police directly released Watson's information as a smuggler, while Ark Daily believed it was a case of a smuggler being murdered by Niki, who exhibited abnormal behavior during the smuggling process, leading to the killing of smuggler Watson.

Based on this, Ark Daily's stance is that "security controls over Niki need to be strengthened, and the three major companies must be held responsible for Niki's abnormal behavior."

Phoenix was already used to the Ark Daily's cryptic and uninformed attitude.

If anyone in the entire Ark is willing to be the vanguard against Niki, then these central mouthpieces are undoubtedly the most enthusiastic and proactive.

Where is the attribution?

[Who is the author of this news article?]

After nearly twenty days of getting along, Anick had picked up some of Phoenix's cunning side and was gradually able to figure out some of his thoughts.

[The signature is Janice; are you planning to start with her?]

[Yes, I know she's probably just a lackey, but I can definitely pry information out of her about the higher-ups who made her write this report. Then I can pry from those higher-ups to those even higher, following the trail all the way up. Even if I don't reach the people hiding behind the scenes, I can still learn more about them through this.]

Phoenix helped the site staff who were moving goods, watched them leave, and continued to organize and analyze his thoughts.

The perfect answer to murder to silence witnesses is to not even report it in the news.

The fact that the people in that smuggling ring killed Watson, but were then exposed, suggests that their connections with the police and media weren't deep enough. This indirectly indicates that the ultimate backers of this smuggling ring weren't among the core figures at the central government level.

No, it's possible that person didn't want to expose themselves over such a trivial matter.

The police department's decision to directly disclose Watson's identity is likely driven by a simple motive: they probably just wanted to inform the public that this heinous murder was probably an internal power struggle among social outcasts, rather than the first crime committed by a psychopathic killer.

The Ark Daily's main focus is still on promoting an anti-Nikki political stance; they don't care about the truth of the case at all.

Tsk! No, this reverse reasoning is too logical...

Phoenix was about to say, "I'll make a file and think about it carefully after I get off work," when a thoughtful voice assistant, as if by telepathy, listed all the tags related to Watson's murder in his mind and connected them all together.

With Anick's visual assistance, the man, seemingly immersed in a mystery world, instantly focused his consciousness on the very beginning of it all.

—The scavenger connected by three lines.

[The Scavenger...]

Phoenix finally realized why his reverse engineering process had been so chaotic.

If the smuggling gang intended to kill and cover it up, how could a scavenger have found the body within 24 hours?

[Besides me, there are other people fighting against this smuggling chain.]

As soon as he finished speaking, Anik waved his little hand to generate a new label on the information wall and added three question marks to it—that woman.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Who Else Wants to Kill Me?

For fans, autograph sessions are arduous, lengthy, and sometimes require a fierce battle with other fans.

For Warren, however, the autograph session was nothing more than a two-hour mechanical job—boring, uninteresting, and unavoidable.

She even had the thought of glancing at her agent, who was sometimes busy and sometimes deep in thought, while signing the papers.

Is this guy contemplating his schedule?

Ah.

He'd better be thinking about his travel arrangements.

As Warren was internally grumbling, a backstage staff member suddenly whispered in his earpiece:

"Boss, a group of people have arrived from backstage, saying they want to see..."

"Let them talk to my agent."

Before the person backstage could finish speaking, the big star habitually passed the buck to her agent, leaving the impending trouble to her.

However, what the staff member said next unexpectedly exceeded her expectations.

“They…they said they wanted to see Mr. Phoenix.”

"huh?"

Upon hearing that someone had come specifically to see her agent, Warren raised an eyebrow. Her woman's intuition told her that something seemed amiss.

Logically speaking, it is indeed efficient and reasonable for the other party to directly contact her agent.

"broker!"

After thinking for a few seconds without any clue, Warren simply called Phoenix over to his side, "A few people have come backstage, it seems they're here specifically to see you."

Let the agent worry about these brain-taxing things. She's currently getting annoyed with signing autographs.

"By the way, why don't you guys add my new agent to the group?"

After seeing off another fan, the superstar suddenly realized a very serious problem.

So, if someone wants to contact her agent, they actually have to go through her staff to ask her first?!

Who is whose agent?

"Uh... Boss, well... you said, 'Anyway, the agents won't last more than half a month. They keep adding people in and kicking them out every few days, it's so annoying. We don't need to add agents to the group anymore,' so... so we didn't dare to add them." The backstage staff explained cautiously.

"..."

When reminded by a staff member, Warren quietly took out her phone and added Phoenix's Balabala account to her studio group chat.

She just has a bad temper and can't stand any nonsense; she's not as unreasonable and domineering as the internet portrays her.

……

……

“bulibuli! m-boer~”

A distinctive "Balabala" notification sounded in his pocket. Phoenix took out his phone and checked it. It turned out to be a message that a big star had personally pulled him into "Wallum Rap Studio".

"Does this count as officially starting work?"

Someone jokingly muttered something to himself and was about to walk towards the employee entrance when a long-haired man in a suit, who came out of the entrance, intentionally or unintentionally blocked his way.

"So you're Phoenix?" the man said arrogantly.

"I need you to provide all your actions from 6 p.m. last night to 7 p.m. today."

"you are?"

The person who was stopped halfway blinked, and for some reason felt like laughing. This guy looked just like those low-IQ, brainless villains in third-rate novels, used to slap people in the face.

"Milicis Field Operations Department." The man in the suit smirked, his face radiating impatience.

“I don’t have that much time to waste on you. Here’s what you’ll do: write a report and send it to me by noon today at the latest.”

"Milysis's?"

Upon hearing the other party introduce himself, Phoenix gave a knowing "Oh," his tone so sarcastic it was enough to make the member of the Missilis Field Operations Department frown.

"Prisoner, straighten your attitude." The man in the suit shouted sternly, slightly annoyed. After so many years of fieldwork, he hated these stubborn troublemakers who wouldn't admit defeat until they were faced with a fatal blow.

"But didn't you say you were from the Missilis Field Operations Department?"

Phoenix, whose emotional intelligence seemed to be declining along with the other person's, scratched his chin in bewilderment.

"You're just a handyman for Missilis, you have no right to suspect me of being a criminal, do you? The central authorities only say I'm a suspect. Didn't Shuen show you my file...?"

suddenly!

As Phoenix was still speaking, a black-gloved hand suddenly grabbed his collar.

"I think you're asking for it..."

Boom! ! !

Before the man in the suit could finish his harsh words, he felt himself lose his balance, his vision suddenly spun around, and then a loud, muffled thud like a drumbeat came from his back.

"cough!"

The field staff lying on the ground were bewildered.

He never imagined that someone still under surveillance would dare to fight back. After all, he was a member of Missilis's field operations unit…

"You want to kill me too?"